Tuesday 23 October 2012

The Barbarossa Wooden Pirate Ship Review


I am a big believer in imaginative play; I think it is so important for children to be able to play games with story lines that they have dreamt up all on their own. Letting their creative flare shine and their minds spinning the magic, making anything in the world possible.

I have been sent the Le Toy Van Barbarossa Wooden Pirate Ship to have a play with, and this is exactly the kind of toy that will get the imagination dreaming up great adventures on the vast ocean, where pirates walk the plank and treasure troves are hidden.

The ship is very boldly decorated in Black and Red, and features three fabric sails with the trademark pirate skull and crossbones on them. Warning any sea fairer to beware of the pirates aboard who have full use of the working spring loaded cannon with large wooden cannon balls!

Other lovely touches are the crows nest for pirates to keep a look out on the open ocean and a rope ladder for the climb up and a wind up anchor. There is even a ladder with an opening down to the deck below…Where you’re prisoners can be kept before they walk the plank! You can even store all of your pirates inside when you aren’t playing with them! (Pirates sold separately).

The ship it’s self is really sturdy and I would say that it would withstand some heavy handed playing on a toddlers part, and I would recommended this wooden alternative over any plastic one.

There is some assembly required with the ship but I managed to get it all together in around 10 minutes and didn’t find it too fiddly. In fact it was all very straight forward and ready to be played with in no time at all.

So much attention to detail has gone into the Barbarossa Pirate Ship that even I can in-vision story’s to play out on deck. The ship comes as seen and no pirates are included in the pack, I think the odd one or two pirates would have gone down a real treat in the pack but it is easy to locate some wooden pirates online. We have plenty of little people who are more than happy to take a ride on the Barbarossa! They have been sailing all over the living room over the last few days!

There are so many different aspects that are ready to fire up even the youngest imagination. Of course at this moment in time Leo is still too young to really appreciate such a beautiful toy, so this is something that I will be putting away until he is old enough to understand why we should look after our toys, even if it is a really solid toy.

The Barbarossa is a really well made ship, there are no obvious breakable parts and there is no real worry that it will be broken from playing enthusiastically. In fact it was designed so that you can play enthusiastically and challenge your imagination to brace a storm on one of the seven seas.

The Barbarossa Pirate Ship is suitable from the age of 3 and upwards, around the age their imaginations are really starting to dream up some rather amazing stories.

You can purchase your Barbarossa Wooden Pirate Ship from Dollshouses.co.uk for £45.00. I think this is such a reasonable price for the hours of fun that can be had with this ship; it is certainly a toy that will be treasured by the entire family for many years to come.



Disclaimer: I was sent the Barbarossa Wooden Pirate Ship for the purpose of this review. However all views and opinions expressed are completely honest and my own.



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